By CHUSA SICHONE in Chibombo District

President Lungu (second right)

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has directed all permanent secretaries, procurement and controlling officers to strictly adhere to laid-down procedures as they discharge their duties.
President Lungu has also said that he will not be distracted by the opposition who have run out of ideas and all they talk about is corruption in the Government.
President Lungu warned during a tour of the Keembe National Piggery Breeding Centre in Chibombo District yesterday that permanent secretaries, controlling and procurement officers who would engage in corruption would not be spared by the law.
“Procurement officers, controlling officers and PSs are strictly warned to adhere to laiddown procedures. Where there are acts of corruption, the due process of the law must take place with credible investigations,” President Lungu said.
“If anyone is arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission, that process will not be interfered with politically but over and above, the strategy of the opposition is well-known and I will not be distracted.”
President Lungu said those Government officials doing the right thing should continue on that path but those engaging in illegalities should stop forthwith or risked being sacked and prosecuted thereafter once caught.
President Lungu said the opposition was characterising every single Government procurement or action as corruption in a bid to paralyse him and the Government into inaction.
He said the opposition wanted to have something else to talk about once their strategy succeeded.
Mr Lungu, however, vowed that the opposition’s corruption song with a ‘long chorus’ would not sway him and the Government from executing their duties in line with the Patriotic Front manifesto and the electorate’s mandate.